Southall Black Sisters’ Victory against Ealing Council
‘An equal society protects and promotes equality real freedom and substantive opportunity to live in the ways people value and would choose so that everyone can flourish. An equal society recognises people’s different needs, situations and goals and removes the barriers that limit what people can do and can be.’(Lord Justice Moses quoting the chairman of the Equalities Review in the final report ‘Fairness and Freedom’ 2007)
In his written judgment on our battle to survive as a specialist secular, anti-racist and feminist organisation in the face of threatened funding cuts by Ealing Council, Lord Justice Moses reiterates some important principles about equality which will have wider ramifications for all those struggling to maintain funding for specialist services and for the struggle for equality generally:
- There is clear duty on local authorities to assess the negative impact of any policy or change in services on racial groups or indeed other groups before the policy is adopted and if there is adverse impact, to find ways to minimise or eliminate the risk;
- Rearguard action - i.e. any attempt by a local authority to carry out equality impact assessments to justify policies already determined or a tick box approach to equality impact assessment - will not be lawful;
- Targeting services to specific racial groups and positive action to eliminate racism does not undermine the principles of cohesion or the Race Relations. ‘Cohesion is achieved by overcoming barriers. That may require the needs of ethnic minorities to be met in a particular and focussed way. The Southall Black Sisters illustrates that principle…There is no dichotomy between the promotion of equality and cohesion and the provision of specialist services to an ethnic minority.’
- Specialist services are entitled to give themselves a name which announces the specialist nature of their purpose. ‘Specialist services for a racial minority from a specialist source is anti-discriminatory and furthers the objectives of equality and cohesion.’
This judgment is important not only because it strikes a blow at those who try to diminish the principle of racial equality but also because it reminds us of what the struggle for equality should be about – the right to be free from racism and all forms of oppression that place a limit on what people can do and can be’.
Please circulate widely. SBS will be interested to hear from any organisations or individuals who make use of this judgment.- Enslaved by Rahila Gupta - review by Susan Jappie
